ClickModel® Prototype Brings InsureTech Startup’s Vision to Life, Paves Way for Validation and Development

An insurance verification startup is able to go from idea to prototype and website, which it plans to use to gain carrier buy-in and purchase commitment before fully investing in product development. 

Background

Founded in 2021 by Dan London, Resolved Risk is a web-based insurance platform that validates risk transfer and tracks compliance for construction company owners and general contractors in the New York commercial general liability market.

A former commercial litigation attorney and expert in risk transfer in the construction industry, London consistently was hearing from insurance carriers that had sold policies to general contractors and were stuck footing the bill for claims they thought would be covered by subcontractors’ policies. Hiring attorneys to review the policies in advance wasn’t feasible, and the general contractors weren’t financially incentivized to solve the problem. So London set out to create a digital platform, powered by machine learning, that would enable carriers to automate the coverage review and verification processes for these subcontractors. By standardizing the risk transfer provisions of policyholders’ subcontracts and automating the enforcement of these provisions, insurance carriers can substantially reduce total loss, potentially saving them tens of millions of dollars per year.

London knew in order to get buy-in from these carriers, he would need to demonstrate he had more than just an idea; he had a proof of concept and a clear roadmap to development. Creating a prototype would help him move forward with validation, marketing, and development at the same time. He was impressed by Praxent’s organized, user-centered approach and decided to move forward with designing and developing a clickable prototype, which along with an app map, wireframes, and style guide, he was able to complete in just 8 weeks. 

Now, London is able to move forward into development because his backend technical team not only has the frontend design but also a clear picture of his vision for the platform. He is also able to secure meetings and conduct demos with potential carriers thanks to the prototype. 

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The problem

Dan London conceived of an automated web-based platform to solve the lack of insurance coverage verification for construction trade subcontractors. 

Subcontractor risk and an insufficient solution: 

• General contractors’ insurance contracts require subcontractors to buy insurance that provides coverage to the general contractors and provide a ‘certificate of insurance’ from their insurance broker. 
• Certificates of insurance are not sufficient for confirming full, unexpired coverage. The only way to confirm this is for a legal professional to manually read each one, which is not feasible, and carriers currently suffer the risk.

A better way was ideated: Use machine learning to verify coverage before subcontractors start work and then keep track of expiration and policy changes.

As an attorney with an idea for a digital product but without the technical expertise to execute on it, London needed a design and development partner with deep insurance industry expertise that could provide him with a go-to-market roadmap. He needed a proof of concept to get early feedback and, ideally, a sales commitment from carriers in his network. He needed a prototype that would help him demonstrate his web-based platform visually as well as interactively—not just paving the way for validation but also setting up a seamless development process.

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How we helped

Praxent’s expert design team worked closely with Dan London, considering his goals for the platform and helping him to apply design thinking from the earliest stage. This led to conversations around the brand, including design and colors, but also the users and their unique needs, which led to new feature ideas that informed the creation of the prototype. 

London particularly was impressed with Praxent’s project management and consistent delivery of what he asked for within the parameters he needed with respect to timelines and budgets. 

Praxent’s approach included:

ClickModel® Prototype

Design Thinking Workshop as an initial facilitated session that enabled the designers to: 

• Align around common goals, target audience, outputs, expectations, and product requirements
• Capture information that guided the creation of the design prototype

Web App Map that defined the UX architecture and flow of the web app

Wireframes that illustrated key features / user flows using easily adjustable low-fidelity designs

• Key features included login, certification, job registration, carrier dashboard and claim reporting

High-Fidelity Clickable Prototype to allow the client and his network to experience the key workflows as they would look on the finished web app worked over three different personas (insurance carrier, policyholder, and subcontractors)

Design Style Guides to accelerate frontend development in parallel with testing

Wireframes

We began with the design process of the ClickModel® Prototype by creating wireframes to focus on the user experience, once approved, the style guide was applied to create unified UI designs.

Branding

Several style tile iterations were shared with the client throughout the design process to help them decide on branding aesthetics.

Style Guide

Praxent created a detailed style guide to ensure the UI felt unified and consistent moving forward.

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Results

Praxent delivered a high-fidelity prototype and landing page that brought the client’s startup idea to life and enabled him to gain feedback and commitment before investing in development. 

London says his developers have been able to use Praxent’s design files as a “roadmap” to guide their coding and build out the application on the backend. 

The prototype also has enabled London to secure meetings with carriers and build out its marketing efforts. Finally, he is hoping to pursue his idea of someday integrating the platform with construction management systems.